Anyone ever climbed Haleakala on Maui?

Only bussed it... 

We were going to sign up for the bike adventure - bus up, and coast down on bikes...  BUT, some damn fool got killed doing it and they shut down the industry just before we were going on out trip.  :-(

they have "Cycle to the Sun" every year...

http://cycletothesun.net/

I could be wrong, but I think you can still ride to the summit...you just can't ride down from the summit to the ranger station (6500 feet).  You need to take a vehicle down, and I think you can ride down from the ranger station to the bottom...or wherever you want to go.

If you get a chance, I would highly recommend it.  It's one of the most beautiful rides I've ever been on.  It's surreal.  Difficulty wise, it's tough, but not "that" bad.  If you can ride 4-5 hours with constant pedal pressure, and you've got the right gearing (something like a 34/27 or 34/28 easy gear), you should be fine.  There are a few places on the lower half (around 3300 feet) where you can stop for food, bathroom, etc, but after that, you're pretty much on your own.

Here's a good link of a guy that did it for fun

http://www.chainreaction.com/haleakala.htm

ChrisM - 2012-06-08 3:28 PM Thanks. I've seen that site. I actually don't care much about the descent, maybe I can convince the wife to meet me there and drive me down.

As crazy as it sounds, I think you'll enjoy the ride up much better than the ride down.  With all the switchbacks, and the speed you can get up to...it takes quite a bit of concentration to descend.  When you're riding up, you're going slow, but at a controlled effort.  You have plenty of time to look around and soak it all in.  There were many times, I completely forgot I was racing as I just stared out over the horizon.

I've done the coast down on the bike and it was scary as h*ll.  We did it though a "reputable" company but it was shady at best.  The bikes weren't in great condition.  The chain came off my bike during the only section we had to pedal and we a chick wipe out on something like the third turn, ended up with some nasty road rash.  She ended up riding back to the base in the van, her husband/boyfriend was less than happy because she complained to him enough that he ended up riding with her.  She did not HTFU.

Sunrise at the top was amazing and worth the trip but I can see how someone got killed and why they shut it down.  Probably for the best.

You can do it - fairly safely.  Just use your car radar and stay right as far as possible.  **Most** people are driving slowly because of the switchbacks and turns, but many are not paying attention and looking for riders because they are looking at the views, which are spectacular.

You can always drive up, then hike through the crater for some adventure.  Everything from moderate to crazy difficult.  I have not hiked them myself, but someday.

Maui Cyclery in Paia does great group trips for more serious riders.

I've done it in segments and ridden to the summit, and down it.  Going down is pretty scary, it's so cold your hands freeze up plus they're fatigued from braking the whole time.  Not fun IMO.  Going up is really nice, but the air is def thinner at the top and you should pack a vest or windbreaker, wear full gloves.  We hitched a ride down once to the ranger station.  There were no restrictions up or down when I went in 2008. But you have to pay park fees to enter by car. 

Cycle to the Sun is hard core and has a cut off time of 6 hours I believe.  It's pretty impossible for a newbie to do.  Riding up Baldwin Avenue is a great workout and pretty.

I did the ride down years ago and thought it was incredibly boring. The group was only allowed to go as fast as the slowest person and of course there were people doing it who appeared to have never been on a bike in their life. Some of those dolts couldn't follow the most basic instructions. What part of do not put your feet down on the ground until completely stopped is difficult to understand? Yet a couple of people did this very thing and subsequently crashed. Fortunately neither were hurt other than some minor scrapes, but geez how stupid can people be? And many of them complained about the one little stretch of uphill that was only like a quarter mile or so.

Riding up doesn't seem like it would be too difficult. Steady climb but nothing really steep. I doubt it's as hard as the ride up Pikes Peak which tops out at over 14,000 feet - and then can enjoy the ride back down.